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Former US defence official pleads guilty to espionage charge
A former Defence Department official accused of passing classified information to a Taiwanese contact pleaded guilty on Monday to an espionage charge but said he was unaware that the material would reach the Chinese government.
- By Jerry Markon and Carrie Johnson, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post
- Published: 00:01 April 2, 2008
Washington: A former Defence Department official accused of passing classified information to a Taiwanese contact pleaded guilty on Monday to an espionage charge but said he was unaware that the material would reach the Chinese government.
Gregg Bergersen entered his plea in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, to one count of conspiracy to communicate national defence information to people not entitled to receive it, which falls under federal espionage statutes.
Bergersen admitted in court documents that he provided information on projected US military sales to Taiwan to Tai Shen Kuo, a New Orleans businessman of Taiwanese descent. Kuo, who also was charged, then passed the material to the Chinese government through e-mails to his handlers in Beijing, court documents said.
Although Bergersen, 51, said he expected that the sensitive material would reach Taiwanese officials, his lawyer Mark Cummings told the court that Bergersen "was unaware that Kuo was a security official of the People's Republic of China, that he was involved in the PRC."
Court documents said Kuo plied Bergersen with money and gifts, including concert tickets and a box of cigars. In July 2007, Bergersen admitted in court documents, Kuo put a folded wad of $3,000 (Dh11,000) in cash in Bergersen's shirt pocket as the two travelled by rental car to Dulles International Airport - an exchange that FBI agents saw on videotape.
But US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said at Monday's hearing that money was apparently not Bergersen's primary motivation and that she wanted to learn more about his motives before sentencing him on June 20. Bergersen faces up to 10 years in prison.
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